Russian Geographical Society celebrates its 170th anniversary

Booming Russian economy of 1845 needed a reliable geographical information about the country and the neighboring territories. RGS was the intellectual center where the decisions with the primary strategic objective of the country were made. Russia explored Siberia and the Far East, Middle and Central Asia, the world's oceans.

RGS history has very deep and lasting traditions set up by great travelers, great researchers and great citizens of the country. They were people completely devoted to the study of Russia and the peoples inhabiting it.

Within the walls of the Russian Geographical Society were born many projects: the birth of a first icebreaker fleet, natural reserves, ethnic groups study, environmental projects, and many others.

RGS led many large-scale discoveries in the Arctic in the late XIX century. It was the initiator of the First International Polar Year. Then, many countries joined the research of the ocean and the islands ice. With the RGS participation, one hundred years ago Boris Vilkitsky's expedition made the last major discovery in the Arctic Ocean - a description of the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago. Nowadays, the recent circumnavigation of the oceanographic research vessel "Admiral Vladimir" was led by the Russian Geographical Society and made new discoveries on islands and straits changes in the high latitudes.

In 2010, RGS was the initiator of great international conferences "Arctic - Territory of Dialogue". At the first conference the idea "Clean the Arctic!" appeared. However, it turned out that there have accumulated millions tons of trash, and no public organization could cope with this. The task was included in the governmental program and is implemented jointly. There are special devices and equipment for the collection, processing and export of thousands iron barrels. They are pressed and taken to the mainland, being utilized.

We thank these members for their ongoing support of the UArctic website:

The University of the Arctic (UArctic) is a cooperative network of universities, colleges, research institutes and other organizations concerned with education and research in and about the North. UArctic builds and strengthens collective resources and collaborative infrastructure that enables member institutions to better serve their constituents and their regions. Through cooperation in education, research and outreach we enhance human capacity in the North, promote viable communities and sustainable economies, and forge global partnerships.